Feeding a Crowd

Equality and Equity

If you have read my bio, then you know my mission is to create as much equality as I can. But with equality, I also believe that equity has to be balanced. The food system does not provide equality and equity to our farmers. According to The Hand That Feeds, "More than 86 percent of workers surveyed reported earning low or poverty wages." These are the people that make food for our country and they can't even feed themselves. The Hand That Feeds also states that "Ironically, food workers face higher levels of food insecurity, or the inability to afford to eat, than the rest of the U.S. workforce. In fact, food system workers use food stamps at double the rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce." These farmers are feeding us and we barely even pay them for it. Why do we treat our farmers this way? They deserve more but we do not five them the equality they need. They also do not get the equity they deserve. The Hand That Feeds described how the farmers do not even get good working conditions. "They also reported working in environments with health and safety violations, long work hours with few breaks, and lack of access to health benefits." This is not right, we are treating our farmers unequal and therefore, putting them into poverty. This happens on a large and small scale. Big corporations and family owned farms are treated this way.
The Color Of Food also tells many stories about how African American farmers feel as if they need to de-connect from the land because of their past. There are some African American farmers who do not believe that is the solution. Some still want to farm and still feel the connection to the land. But it is sometimes frowned upon for the African American farmers to want to continue to farm because it is continuing of the discrimination put onto them in the past. The unequal standards has made others walk away from farming. How can we make it so everyone can comfortably farm and and survive? We need to show all farmers that we appreciate them. We need to help them survive and be apart of the community. Farmers are apart of the community and we need to treat them like they are. We help people in our community to survive, so why leave the farmers behind?

 

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